Perseverance
by munchette22
Summary: James would do anything to get with Lily. But can he do this?


James sat on the stairs, rubbing his eyes. He knew there were a bunch of girls whispering about him, but he didn't care-why would he? None of them were Lily Evans... "James?" A voice said and he looked up, faking a cocky smile. "Hey Lily," he said, rubbing his eyes and trying to stifle a yawn. She looked at him suspicuosly. "No stupid pick-up lines or anything, Potter?" She asked. "Sorry about that, I'm...a bit tired," he replied. She nodded and walked quickly in the other direction. James sighed and went to look for his friends.

"Hurry up! Remus said, urging James up the ladder to transfiguration. He hated getting his friends in trouble, but they'd change every night to help him out. "Calm down, it's not like we haven't had detention before!" Sirius said, rolling his eyes. They all looked exhausted. James pushed open the door and climbed into the classroom, as Lily rolled her eyes and looked away. "Sorry we're late, Miss!" He said, flashing a smile at the teacher. She nodded, looking annoyed, but just nodded and carried on with her speech on orbs. Lead by James, they sat next to a round table next to Lily's. "Now," Miss Huckerby said, "go get an orb and see if you can see anything. Don't worry if you can't, not everyone has this gift." "The biggest gift I'll get is being able to drop this bloody rubbish," Sirius said, laying his head on the table and trying to sleep. Peter laughed and Lily looked over, annoyed. She got up to get her orb. "I'll get us some orbs," James said. The others tried to thank him, but he was already rushing away. "Hey, Evans!" James said, rubbing his hand through his hair and trying to stifle a yawn. "What do you want, Potter?" She asked angrily. "You?" He said, smirking. "Get lost, Potter." She said, reaching for an orb. James' hand just so happened to reach for the same orb and he looked at her with a raised eyebrow, smirking as his hand gently stroked hers. She blushed as bright as her hair, picked up the orb and stormed off to her table. James groaned in frustration, picked up four orbs and walked back to his table, yawning. Unfortunately, he didn't notice the bag on the ground and tripped, dropping the orbs as Sirius burst out laughing and Miss Huckerby turned round, nearly jumping out of her skin. When Sirius managed to control himself, he said "bet you didn't see that one did you, Miss?" Remus and Peter burst out laughing, and even Lily was shaking and trying not to laugh. "I'm so sorry!" The girl said, pulling her bag under the table and blushing. "It's fine," James mumbled, trudging back to his table and sitting down as the other marauders tried to control themselves. "Well that woke us up," Remus said. They all started laughing again. James risked a look at Lily, who was smiling down at the table. James smiled and looked back to his friends as Sirius stared into the orb, looking shocked. "What is it, Sirius?" Peter asked, not knowing wether he was joking or being serious (no pun intended). "I-I see something!" He said loudly, putting on Miss's voice. The whole classroom turned round to look. "I see...I see a bright future for you, James! You...you and Lily!" At this point, Remus couldn't contain himself-he burst out laughing with Peter. Lily turned red and looked at them angrily while James smiled at her embarassed, ruffling his hair. About 15 minutes later, James came over to Lily and sat next to her. "I'm trying to study my orb," she said, bluntly. James smirked and laid his arms on the table, leaning forwards. "You know what, Evans? James is a great fortune teller. I think he may be on to something; first we hold hands, then this." Lily's head snapped up and she looked at him, incredulous as her friends flinched along with James, who soon regained his arrogant look. "We did not hold hands, we just went for the same orb!" James smiled at her. "See? Fate!" He looked at the sky, making a rainbow shape with his hands. "The stars are aligned for us, Lily Evans!" She burst out laughing as her friends looked at her impatiently. They knew we were meant to be together..."Come on, Lily!" He said, trying to stay cool. "Why won't you give me a chance?" "Are you seriously asking me this?" Sirius smirked at the mention of his name, and I noticed that all of the marauders were leaning towards us, listenning in. Lily began again. "Well for one, you don't even try! We'll sit in class and you'll lean bag in your chair, using a quill that automatically writes down the correct answers! We've got our OWLs coming up!" James thought that it was a great idea, but decided it would be best to leave that out it. "I get great marks!" He answered, feigning hurt. She looked at him, annoyed. "Ok. But if I do well in my OWLs, then will you go out with me? Come on..." Lily looked offended. "I don't want to start dating you just because you're smart!" James looked uncomfortable for a second, but soon regained his old self. "I didn't mean it like that! But, you know, if I did, and I worked really hard to get 6 OWLs or something, then would you?" She raised her eyebrows at him. "With a bit of work, you could get that. The maximum is 12. Why don't you go for 9?" James looked unsure of himself. He knew Lily was only saying this because James couldn't achieve this. "And if I do, you'll go out with me? Definately?" She looked him in the eyes. "Sure." You could practically see Lily's friends and the marauders jumping out of their seats. "Shake on it!" Sirius shouted. James held out his hand. Lil hesitated, but shook it any way and was surprised to see that he had a strong yet soft handshake. He winked at her and swaggered away.


End file.
